Headlines

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

The 5-4 ruling - assailed by dissenting Justice Sanday Day O'Connor as handing "disproportionate influence and power" to the well-heeled in America - was a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They had argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.....

Isn't that nice? The government can take "your" property when ever it wants to for apparently whatever it wants to....

To see the rest of the article, please click: http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/supreme_court



Ex-Klansman Gets 60 Years for 1964 Murders

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - One-time Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was sentenced to the maximum 60 years in prison Thursday for masterminding the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers.

Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon on sentenced Killen to 20-year terms on each of three counts of manslaughter. Gordon said the terms will run consecutively.

Killen, 80, was convicted Tuesday, 41 years after Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were killed.

Killen sat in a wheelchair as the judge announced the sentence. The judge said he took no pleasure in the task and said the law makes no distinction on the defendant's age at the time of sentencing.....


What can I say about this one? Better late than never....I don't think so. This dude is 80 years old...he has already lived out most of his life. This sentence came 41 years after the murders occured. This sentence is clearly symbolic, because there is no way Killen can serve the entire term.

The thing that upsets me about this one is I don't feel like justice was really served. I am glad that he was convicted, and I am glad they have acknowledged the lives of his 3 victims. But as a member of the KKK, there is no telling how many people Killen victimized throughout his miserable life and it is unfortunate that he was allowed to continue living out his normal life for all these years.

If this sounds harsh, let me offer a little background. My family was relentlessly threatened, harrassed and pursued by the KKK back in the 1940s. My grandpa feared for his life and eventually moved our family from Alabama to Florida. My family was uprooted because of a bunch of criminals; but sadly there actions weren't even considered a crime. But I digress

For more of the article, click here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062300295.html